Last week, I was so pleased to see the announcement that there will be 536 new child care spaces created in Nanaimo and Ladysmith with the provincial government’s capital grants fund.

This is an important milestone in the three-year Childcare BC plan that since 2018 has created 16,800 new child care spaces and offered a variety of supports for child care providers, families and child care workers, including the $2/hour wage increase that came this spring.

Today, we wrote to Premier John Horgan to congratulate him on this important step. But we also pressed his government to go further and make a bold investment in child care. Read the full letter here.

Today, we made three key recommendations:

• Improve wages, health benefits and a pension plan so that we can recruit and retain qualified and experienced professionals
   
• Expand the $10aDay model that builds upon the successful prototypes that are already working for families
   
• Build more spaces to meet the needs of all communities in our province

Child care is key to our COVID-19 economic recovery strategy.  As more businesses and parts of the economy are safely reopening, child care is a key ingredient to ensure that more working families can get back to work. 

But we also know that heart of a quality child care system are the early childhood educators and other professionals that are well-supported and valued.

The pandemic has been hard on all of us and I know that many of you have either gone to work in extraordinary circumstances, faced your own uncertainties or had to make difficult choices. 

As we move toward the next phases of the pandemic, I hope that you and your community continue to stay safe and healthy.

Thank you for all that you do.

In solidarity,

Andrea Duncan,
Vice president, Community social services

UWU/MoveUP